present

A few months ago I wrote about learning from the past, planning for the future, and staying in the present. Curiosity makes me think of Alice in Wonderland, wondering into the Rabbit hole. It makes me think of adventure, exploring, experience and learning. When we’re a child, we’re always curious and constantly asking questions. Having curiosity is part of an education that lasts a lifetime. It’s the desire to learn and understand the world around us. We need to be present in order to truly live a fulfilling life.

When we’re curious about our surroundings, we’re more engaged and present. We don’t dwell on the past but focus on what’s happening in the now. It’s a spark that’s within all of us. A light that carries us and fuels us with energy. Imagine when you meet someone for the first time, you’re often curious to ask questions and know more about the person. Curiosity makes me think of a cat because they’re always very aware of their surroundings. In anything, we need balance. If we’re interacting with someone, it’s good to be curious, but not too much that we become intrusive or nosy.

I was walking into the city earlier this month, and there was live music playing. The band consist of a drummer, electric guitarist, bass player and singer. It was incredible to all experience standing there listening to the music. Some passerby would stop for a song or two to listen. I was curious to go to a jelly bar a week ago, held in a clothing store on High Street (below is a snapshot) I had a fig, honey and thyme jelly which was delicious. It was a lovely experience, and many people would wonder in wondering what event was happening. Curiosity is also important when we’re walking. When I wrote about the beauty of walking, I mentioned how walking creates awareness, presence and discovery into the unknown or a familiar environment. That is if we allow it to. We can give ourselves the choice to be aware and interested or be in a state of daydreaming and drifting. Curiosity in learning is largely seen as beneficial and important, as it makes our mind active, motivated, inspired, energetic and open to storing information. It encourages us to be creative and make new discoveries.

In socialising, it’s important, because it shows that you’re interested in the other person. Curiosity means living a far more fulfilling life, as opposed to a boring one. It broadens our mind and allows us to be more open minded about certain things. Curiosity can bring us out of our comfort zone and try something new. It means not being afraid to ask questions and having persistence in your goals. It can make us happier people because it makes us interested in life around us, the way the simple things like seeing a hedgehog walking across the garden could deeply amuse us as a child.

There has been a lot of changes that I’ve been planning for in my life. I recently read a book called The Present by Spencer Johnson. I recommend the book to anyone in any stage of their life. It’s the kind of book that you can read in less than a day, but it contains such a strong message. Do you remember when you were a child, the way you could focus on a task with all your attention? Whether it was playing with your toys, drawing in your sketch book, jumping on the trampoline or reading a book. Your mind didn’t have any thoughts that would fly in asking yourself questions that made you feel worried. There were no worries that would create themselves inside of you, because you were focused on enjoying the moment, rather than worrying about the future. Kids are the greatest reminder of staying in the moment.

Most of the time the stress we have in our lives, are very often created from our thoughts. These thoughts can then affect our mood and the actions we take. They give out negative energy and cause more negative things to be attracted into our lives. When we worry, it tends to be something about the future, or when we feel bad, it may be a memory from the past. One of the important messages in the book, is that in this moment is the moment we can choose to enjoy and live. We are in control of the present. In the present we can decide to look at the past as a way to learn and be better from it. We can look towards the future with a sense of making ourselves better than where we currently are. When we’re in the present, we invite happiness and success into our lives, because we don’t allow the past and future to steal our time.

We can’t touch the past but we can learn and improve from it. We can’t touch the future yet, but we can reach our goals and vision by planning for the future. When we plan and focus on the present, we are able to enjoy life far more. In the book it says Once you have prepared for The Future, you can enjoy The Present with less anxiety. It reminds us that when we have a direction in life, it allows us to focus on what we can do in the present, in order to bring about the future we want. Another quote that spoke to me was Success is becoming who you are capable of being. We all have different definitions of success. Whatever it is that we really want to strive for, we have the ability. The moment we start creating scenarios in our mind or causing a thought to exaggerate, we allow it to build up and ruin our focus.

Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone has things they wish they did or said differently. Although, we must use our precious time to learn from those moments. They give us a valuable lesson in order to improve and change ourselves. Many of us have dreams or goals we want to achieve in life. It’s really important to have a positive mindset on it, otherwise it’s easy to quickly diminish from simple thoughts such as “I can’t because…” or “What if…” We are all able to reach our goals. Being In The Present Means Tuning Out Distractions And Paying Attention To What Is Important, Now. You Create Your Own Present By What You Give Your Attention To Today. These words are so true, because what we put our attention on is ultimately the moment we choose. There is a choice to how we see and react to every good or bad situation.

It Is Hard To Let Go Of The Past If You Have Not Learned From The Past. As Soon As You Learn And Let Go, You Improve The Present Today. The book has a lot of wise words that most of us already know ourselves, but we forget to do it. Johnson reminds us that it’s okay to slip from time to time, and it’s a gentle reminder to focus back to the present. Everyone experiences hurt and pain. Those memories can bring a grey cloud over ones head. We are reminded that those memories have happened and we can’t change them, but we can become stronger from it. Sometimes certain things happen in life that we experience, because it allows us to recognise what is important. Letting go releases the pain you’ve held in for too long. It releases the tension in your mind.

Living in The Present learning from The Past and planning for The Future is not all there is. It is only when you Work and Live with Purpose and respond to what’s important about The Present, Past and Future, that it all has meaning. – Spencer Johnson

Being yourself, is about embracing yourself for who you are. It is most importantly learning to love the person you are, because there is no one not even nearly quite like you. You are literally a grain of sand on the shore, a snowflake falling from the sky and the footsteps in the mist, all created with your own unique design. If we all lived without fear of judgment, without care of what other’s may think then we would have peace with the cycle that has been ongoing on this Earth since its creation. The fear of judgment is a cycle, due to the idea that when one person is conscious, there will be someone else conscious, and the irony? Most of the time, it is because we are judging ourselves.

When we feel set free, it is when we feel no need to have any judgment within ourselves. To love yourself first, is the only step to acceptance and loving those around you. Often we wonder, why did someone say such those words to me? That really hurts. The answer in life is always Love, as I strongly believe and cannot stress enough. Social Media is the visual example of people hating and pouring their hatred within themselves onto others.

I am amazed at how many of these sort of people we have possibly all encountered in our lives, not knowing that in their minds they must have thoughts that they would not express vocally. Embrace yourself. This is easier said than done, as many things are. The first thing that I always find easiest, is to accept my self flaws and all. Nobody is ever perfect, and the best thing we can do, is do the best that we can as an individual.

You are in control of good change or bad change in your life. You are in control of the present moment which happens right now. Don’t worry for tomorrow or yesterday. You are strongest and powerful of time right now. Time can be so easily wasted through worry and stress for the future and the sorrows of the past, that we forget that there is a moment in time that is now, the present.

“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.”